Early Warnings for All (EW4All)

India is helping Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Mauritius develop early warning systems to reduce the loss of life and property due to extreme weather events.

• India’s efforts are part of the United Nations’ ‘Early Warnings for All’ initiative.

What are Early Warning Systems (EWS)?

• EWS are an integrated system of hazard monitoring, forecasting, prediction, disaster risk assessment, communication, and preparedness activities.
• They enable individuals, communities, governments, and businesses to take timely action to reduce disaster risks before hazardous events.
• A successful EWS can save lives and jobs, land and infrastructures, and support long-term sustainability.

About Early Warnings for All (EW4All):

• EW4All is a United Nations initiative that aims to protect people from hazardous weather, climate, and water events through early warning systems by 2027.
• It was formally launched in 2022 at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, and is co-led by the United Nations Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).
• It aligns with the priorities of the Paris Agreement and supports key provisions of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, particularly Target G on availability and accessibility of multi-hazard early warning systems.
• It also contributes to delivering the targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on poverty, hunger, health, water, clean energy, climate action and sustainable cities.
• The delivery of Early Warnings for All requires scale up and coordinated investments and action across the four essential pillars of end to end, people-centred Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems (MHEWS).

Four Pillars:

• Disaster risk knowledge: Ensuring all countries have access to reliable, understandable and relevant risk information, science and expertise (led by UNDRR).
• Detection, observation, monitoring, analysis, and forecasting: Ensuring all countries have robust forecast and monitoring systems and enabling policies to support optimization and sustainability of hazard monitoring and early warning systems (led by WMO).
• Warning dissemination and communication: Using a people-centered approach to ensure that early warnings are effectively and timely disseminated to reach everyone, especially those most at risk (led by ITU).
• Preparedness and response capabilities: Ensuring local governments, communities and individuals at risk have the knowledge and means to take pre-emptive early actions to prepare for and respond to incoming disasters upon receiving warnings (led by IFRC).

Need for EWS:

• With human-induced climate change causing more extreme weather, early warning systems are crucial.
  • The world is projected to experience 560 medium- to large-scale disasters annually.
• They’re not a luxury but a cost-effective tool that saves lives, reduces economic losses, and yields nearly tenfold returns on investment.
  • Between 1970 and 2021, approximately 2 million deaths and economic losses totaling USD 4.3 trillion were attributed to extreme weather events.
• They can help in preparing for and reducing the risk of disasters.

Challenges faced by EWS:

• Data collection and management: It is difficult to get accurate information on all relevant parameters.
• Monitoring: Inadequate or poorly maintained monitoring stations can lead to inaccurate predictions.
• Communication barriers: Everyone needs to understand what actions they should take after receiving an alert to avoid panic or confusion.
• Public awareness: Lack of public awareness and public complacency can be an obstacle.
• Lack of co-ordination: Coordination gaps between data collection and warning dissemination centers.

Way forward:

• Improving data quality and ensuring global data access.
• Integrating scientific and technological advancements with local, traditional, Indigenous, and generational knowledge.